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 The affected peacekeepers are from the Philippines and Fiji, U.N.
spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
"During a period of increased fighting beginning yesterday between
armed elements and Syrian Arab Armed Forces within the area of
separation in the Golan Heights, 43 peacekeepers from the United
Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) were detained early
this morning by an armed group in the vicinity of Al Qunaytirah,"
the U.N. press office said in a statement.
It added that another 81 UNDOF peacekeepers were being restricted to
their positions in the vicinity of Ar Ruwayhinah and Burayqah.
Dujarric said the 81 trapped troops were from the Philippines and
the 43 seized ones from Fiji.
"The United Nations is making every effort to secure the release of
the detained peacekeepers, and to restore the full freedom of
movement of the force throughout its area of operation," it said.
Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, president of the
Security Council this month, told reporters the trapped peacekeepers
were surrounded by Islamist militants.
The 15-nation Security Council, which was meeting on the
humanitarian situation in Syria, was also discussing the issue of
the kidnapped peacekeepers, Lyall Grant said.
The Philippine army said in a statement that militants and had
surrounded the Philippine contingent’s encampments with Fijian
hostages in tow and demanded that the Filipino troops surrender
their firearms.
"The Philippine peacekeepers held their ground and demonstrated
their resolve to defend their positions," it said. "They did not
surrender their firearms as they may in turn be held hostage
themselves."
The Security Council issued a statement strongly condemning the
seizure of the peacekeepers and calling for their immediate release.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon echoed the council word's in his
own statement of condemnation.
Reporters asked Dujarric if the United Nations was in contact with
the group holding the Fijians. He declined to specify who the world
body was in contact with but said there was communication under way.
"There are contacts being held at different levels, on the mission
and on the ground," he said. "They are talking to representatives of
various armed groups that they have ... operational contact with.
They are talking to countries in the region."
Dujarric was also asked about the rules for peacekeepers in such
situations.
"In extreme circumstances, these troops are trained and prepared and
equipped to defend themselves, but, obviously, each situation has to
be analyzed on a case-by-case basis," he said.
FIJI ARMY CHIEF SAYS COMMITTED
U.N. officials say that the peacekeepers, whose job is to monitor
the cessation of hostilities, carry small arms that are only to be
used in extreme circumstances. In previous situations where UNDOF
peacekeepers were held hostage, the troops did not use their
weapons.
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The Quneitra crossing on the Golan is a strategic plateau captured
by Israel in a 1967 Middle East war. Syria and Israel technically
remain at war. Syrian troops are not allowed in an area of
separation under a 1973 ceasefire formalized in 1974. UNDOF
monitors the area of separation, a narrow strip of land running
about 45 miles (70 km) from Mount Hermon on the Lebanese border to
the Yarmouk River frontier with Jordan. There are 1,223 UNDOF
peacekeepers from six countries.
Before the Syrian civil war, now in its fourth year, the region was
generally quiet and the peacekeepers had mostly found their biggest
enemy to be boredom.
The force's personnel come from Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal,
Netherlands and the Philippines. The United Nations said this week
that the Philippines has decided to pull out of UNDOF, and from a
U.N. force in Liberia, which is struggling with an outbreak of the
deadly Ebola virus.
Blue-helmeted U.N. troops were seized by militants in March and May
2013. In both of those cases they were released safely.
Austria, Japan and Croatia have all pulled their troops out of UNDOF
due to the deteriorating security situation and spillover from the
Syrian war.
But Fijian Army Commander Brigadier-General Mosese Tikoitoga told
Reuters in an interview on Friday that he would not be recommending
to his government that Fiji follow suit.
"If I was to make any recommendation, I would increase our forces in
Syria. That would be my recommendation," he said by phone from Fiji.
"We will not make any recommendations of pulling out from the U.N.
or any other engagement, because our contribution to U.N.
peacekeeping - if we don't want to do this, then who else in the
world would want to do this?"
He added that he was confident the Fijians would be released soon
based on the strength of their contacts in the Golan Heights region.
(Additional reporting by Matt Siegel in Sydney and Rosemarie
Francisco in Manila; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Tom Brown, Jeremy
Laurence and Ken Wills)
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